Texas Insurance Commissioner Rathgeber to Take Temporary Departure From Post
December 10, 2014 by Thomas Harman
AUSTIN, Texas. – Texas Insurance Commissioner Julia Rathgeber will leave her job temporarily after agreeing to become Gov.-elect Greg Abbott’s deputy chief of staff for budget and policy effective Jan. 20.
Abbott, a Republican, was elected governor in November with more than 59% of the vote against Democrat Wendy Davis. Abbott announced the composition of his new staff during a Dec. 8 press conference outlining his new administration’s priorities for the biennial 2015 session.A Dec. 8 email from Rathgeber’s office to Texas Department of Insurance staff said she is planning to return to the insurance commissioner’s post in mid-2015. “The Abbott transition team has been very kind about my request to return to the Department of Insurance and has assured me that I will be able to return to TDI next summer,” the email said. “In the meantime, the new governor’s office may appoint a commissioner to serve for the session while I am away. The specific details of that decision have not been developed at this time.”
Joe Woods, the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America’s vice president, state government relations, told Best’s News Service Rathgeber enjoys being insurance commissioner and is good at it. “She’s brought stability where they needed it. She’s set a neutral political tone. You don’t see political motives in anything the department’s doing,” he said. “She’s challenged everyone developing rules and regulations to make sure they meet statutory standards. If we’re in a situation where a placeholder continues that for six or eight months and then she comes back, that would be a marvelous outcome.”
Attempts to get comment from Rathgeber’s office and the Insurance Council of Texas were unsuccessful.
Rathgeber was appointed to the insurance commissioner’s job by current Gov. Rick Perry, also a Republican, after her predecessor Eleanor Kitzman resigned in May 2013 (Best’s News Service, May 28, 2013). Prior to becoming insurance commissioner, Rathgeber had a varied background, having served as the deputy chief of staff for Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, the director of research in the Texas General Land Office, and the director of the strategic assessment division for the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission.
